1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to boat boarding ladders. More particularly, it refers to a portable small boat boarding ladder having parallel webbed fabric sides connected by removable step bars.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Boat ladders of many descriptions are well known. Most of these prior art ladders are not easily taken apart for carrying in a small luggage bag. The convenience of such a ladder is particularly important with rubber rafts and other inflatable boats that are used for camping and carrying on back packs. The prior art ladders such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,186,820; 4,541,507; 4,724,925; 5,333,323 and 6,058,875 all describe small boat ladders, but with metallic side supports that cannot be easily disassembled for compact storage. U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,330 describes a small boat ladder with ladder steps extending between two ladder supports. There is no discernable way for the steps to be detached from the two ladder supports for compact storage. U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,945 describes a small boat ladder with a saddle mounted over a boat""s gunnel and a hinged mounting centrally located on the saddle rotatably supporting a tubular ladder. Such an arrangement requires the use of a boarding assist rope. Moreover, the tubular ladder rungs are not detachable from the ladder support.
A need exists for a portable small boat ladder that is compact in storage and stable in use.
The portable lightweight compact boat ladder of this invention solves the need for an easily taken part and packed ladder useful with small boats, particularly rubber inflatables. The ladder has two substantially parallel spaced apart side members made of a two ply heavy duty web material. About one foot apart, along the length of each side member, there are openings in the web, the openings corresponding with an opening in the corresponding parallel side member. Each end of a cylindrical aluminum step is inserted within the opening in corresponding parallel side members. A flanged end cap is threaded to each end of the aluminum step to retain the step in place. Multiple steps are inserted into the openings in the parallel web members to form the ladder. One end of each parallel side member has an attaching member integrally connected for attaching to a ring structure on the bottom of a boat or inside the gunnel of a boat to retain the ladder in position draped over the gunnel of the boat with the steps descending into the water.